The 200-400 with Internal 1.4X Extender and Friend Do Tobu Tori

The Streak Goes On…

After sleeping late to 4:00am we had a great day with the Whooper Swans.

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Today’s blog post took 1 1/2 hours to prepare. It’s late: I gotta get up soon!

Central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF barely caught the tip of the bird’s bill and was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Image #1: White-tailed Sea Eagle

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The 200-400 with Internal 1.4X Extender and Friend Do Tobu Tori

As you can see with the three opening images here, the Canon 200-400mm with Internal TC is a killer hand held flight lens. On our first afternoon, it was a dead slaughter. The cranes are fed fish at the Akan Crane Center and a variety of raptors seemingly appear out of nowhere in an attempt to steal a free lunch. The more I use the 2-4 for hand held flight photography the easier the process becomes. The lens is so compact that it seems to weigh a lot less than it actually does. And the more you practice with the positioning of your hands on the lens the easier it becomes to zoom out when needed; note the 490mm focal length for the image above where I zoomed out from 560mm to better fit and place subject in the frame. And with the 1D X every image where I had the sensors anywhere near the bird’s head, face, or neck were razor sharp on the eye.

Central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF caught the bird’s head and was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Image #2: Steller’s Sea Eagle

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Steller’s Sea Eagle is not a common bird at the Akan Crane Center. On our first visit, there were two. We got more great news today, with the total absence of sea ice at Rausu until a few days ago, our 4 sea eagle flight photography sessions were in doubt. But with the current cold snap the eagle boats are now running again.

Central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF just caught the bird’s bill and was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF fell squarely on the bird’s face and was active at the moment of exposure. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Image #4: Red-crowned Crane

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The 600 II and the 1.4X III TC

Once I saw that all of the feeding action was over I noted that despite the poor wind conditions for flight: wind against sun, that some of the cranes were leaving to our right with the beautiful distant trees as a backdrop. The birds were at quite a distance away so I reached for my 600II/1.4X III/1D X combo and went to work.

You Favorite

Take a moment to leave a comment and let us know which of the four images was your favorite, and why.

If you’d like to learn from the two folks who created the images in the composite above do consider one of the trips below. Denise Ippolito’s images: Japanese leaf painting, skimmer in flight, curved Keukenhof paths with tulips, copulating terns, & pink dahlia. Artie’s images: Snow Geese snowstorm blur, crane landing silhouettes, Leopard with prey in tree, King Penguin, & vertical tulip. Note: Denise alone will be leading the Torres del Paine workshop.

Leaders: Denise Ippolito & Arthur Morris. Introductory Slide program: 7:00pm on Sunday 11/23. This IPT is perfect for folks who want to learn to think outside the box, to create new and different images. Learn to unleash your creative juices at the wondrous Bosque del Apache, NWR in San Antonio, NM.

Leaders: Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito. Introductory Slide program: 7:00pm on Sunday 11/29. Tens of thousand of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with two of the world’s premier photographic educators at one of their very favorite photography locations on the planet.

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Typos

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IPT Info

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yesterday was a wet snowy day in Kyoto, so when you come here bring some warm clothes but not as warm as you need for where you are now. I guess I simply have to build up some experience with the 200-400. Chickened out and will be using the 300 f2.8. Good news about the boats. I like the first photograph the best but it is mainly because of the birds position in the frame.

Really nice photos. I can’t choose between the three raptor shots for my favorite. Since I’ve been trying recently to improve my flight photography I’m even more impressed than usual. It’s not nearly as easy as you make it look to get the light and positioning and composition and sharp focus right!

Either that or maybe you’re a bird whisperer and when they see you the birds all just fly right at you to give you perfect shots. 🙂

Actually it is just a matter of understanding the direction of the wind, the light, and bird behavior. As I think I mentioned above, we had pretty much the worst possible flight conditions: fairly bright sun with the wind pretty much in our face though a bit from north. I instructed the group to watch for birds turning and circling to get in on the action and for birds flying the wrong way for whatever reason. After that it is just a matter or pressing the shutter button when the bird is in the zone: coming towards you (and the light)or at least not flying away and filling a suitable amount of the frame. Strength–which I do not have much of, and hand-eye coordination are also major factors but they are trumped by understanding the situation and knowing bird behavior and understanding how the direction of the wind and the direction of the light affect the photography of tobu tori….

Best way to learn all of this stuff: join us on an IPT that features lots of flight photography like this one:

Tens of thousand of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with two of the world’s premier photographic educators at one of their very favorite photography locations on the planet. Top-notch in-the-field and Photoshop instruction. This will make 21 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for artie. This will be denise’s 6th workshop at the refuge. Nobody knows the place better than artie does. Join us to learn to think like a pro, to recognize situations and to anticipate them based on the weather, especially the sky conditions, the light, and the wind direction. Every time we make a move we will let you know why. When you head home being able to apply what you’ve learned on your home turf will prove to be invaluable.

It was an underexposure because–after the fact, the histogram was much too far to the left. It was a difficult situation and the action was fast paced. Different settings were required for the various species as they were all of different tonalities…. With their bright whties sunlit the cranes and the Steller’s Sea-Eagles required the least light, the white-tailed needed a bit more light as the white tail is not as bright at the whites on the two previous birds, and the black-eared needed a third stop more light.

I began by over-estimating the amount of light and compounded my errors from there until I finally got it right for the crane.

As always, learn everything that you need to know about exposure for nature photography in the two-book bundle: ABP and ABP II.

Tough to pick one…but if I had to, it would be #3.
Why? There’s something about how the wing span is almost
a straight line, top to bottom and a straight line from
the head to the tail, with the tail perfectly spread
open.